Opportunity knocks

The European Union (EU) currently imports around 30 per cent of its natural gas and oil products from The Russian Federation (Russia), much of the natural gas is transported through pipelines running through Ukraine.

It is highly likely that there will be some sort of concerted sanctions against Russia from the west as the drama in the Crimea and Ukraine plays out. However, the market seems to think that the EU is too reliant on Russian oil and gas for western sanctions to include its energy exports. Having said that one might want to consider if the boot was to be on the other foot, so to speak, and Russia decided to impose energy sanctions on the west and sell its energy wares to China for example.

Just like the EU has been trying to wean itself away from Russian energy exports Russia has been shifting focus to China. Indeed right now there are reports in the media that Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft are vying to export more natural gas to China.

Understandably, the EU has been concerned about the perhaps uncertain supply of oil and gas from Russia for some time. The Russian move into Georgia, price disputes and supply shut offs have all led to the EU reducing its dependency.Nonetheless a third is still a lot to think about that might be unsecure; Germany is particularly vulnerable. Hence, calls are being made for the EU to make adjustments to its energy policy to allow U.S. imports of natural gas.

If the U.S. can do it, why not Canada? The EU is a secure, stable and well paying market. We have an abundance of natural gas. I would be interested to hear what our government and energy industry can do as opportunity knocks.